REVIEW: Black Tongue – Falsifier [2013]

I often notice that there seems to be some sort of unwritten universal rule that prevents you from getting exacly what you want, atleast most of the time. It’s a common fact that life itself has its ups and downs but I’m talking about the little things here, things like ordering a hamburger you’ve been craving for a long time, only to find out that its been undercooked, or has too much lettuce on it. Or those times when you were eagerly awaiting a new game to be released, only to discover that it is loaded with bugs and errors. Music of course is no exception to this rule and after listening to Metal for so long I definitely know what I want: in-your-face, heavy and solid music with lots of replay value. Some bands come close to my desires, with just a few minor elements I don’t particularly like while others fail to interest me even the slightest. The recently formed UK Hardcore band Black Tongue had the right idea while making their debut EP ”Falsifier” because it didn’t take me long after hearing it to deduce that these gentlemen know EXACLY what they want from making music, which is creating a focussed yet diverse effort that is as insanely angry as it is heavy, without any loose ends or trendy bullshit; spawning a mindblowing final product only a handful of bands can ever hope to come close to. Combining different ingredients in order to keep the music sounding fresh and innovative is nothing new, but rarely has it been done so professionaly as on ”Falsifier”.

Black Tongue continuously attemps to attack you from all sides, smashing your sanity to pieces. Expect things such as sharp guitar riffing, crashing drums, unbelievable down-tempo breakdowns, demonic hound growling and maniacal Hardcore shouting being launched at you at a continuous pace. The evil and demoralizing atmosphere, the slow chords and guitar tuning create support for these assaults and will make you feel as if being bombarded by a meteor shower, liquifying you for just a few seconds and barely giving you recovering time before the next barrage crashes down upon you. There will be times that all these malicious attacks on the listener are perfectly synergized and will be released all at once to create a hate-filled tsunami of destruction, perhaps the best example of this can be heard on ”H.C.H.C” where every instrument is aligned in such a way that it is hard not to be overwhelmed by it. There are also moments when the multiple layers of hatred briefly step aside to make place for some good old fashioned head-bangable guitar riffing as can be heard on ”Ire Upon The Earth”.

With all this good stuff going on, one cannot forget to mention the incredibly volatile and misanthropic lyrics that can be found on ”Falsifier” and are of course a common necessity when it comes to music like this. Black Tongue created a versatile mixture of different topics (all pissed as fuck as you might have suspected), ranging from personal anger to the hatred and disgust for the world in general, and are all written in the most anger-inducing and negative way possible.”A Pale Procession”, ”Fauxhammer” and ”Voices” are the songs that strongly rely on the lyrical content and will create a psychopathic smile on your face every time you hear them.

A thing that always has me worried when it comes to hard hitting releases like this is the recording quality. With music styles that draw their power from rawness and brutality, there is the possibility of OVER–producing an album, effectively ruining the band’s own music style. Although you can hear a slight difference when compared to the ”Fauxhammer” single, the production on”Falsifier” remains equally as raw (if not more) and at times will give you the sensation of being fisted by a jackhammer. The EP is an average 21 minutes in play length but this is not an issue because you will find yourself practically being forced to press that replay button again and again. For a straightforward Hardcore EP there is a surprising amount of diversity to be found, giving you an even better listening experience with each replay.

This year already had some great (and unexpected) releases, but I never would have imaged that 2013 was going to be the year that the down-tempo Hardcore style would be re-popularized, I for one am very happy about this happening, although I can imagine that the genre is not for everyone. So for the haters wondering if this album is worth your time I just have one thing to say: ”Falsifier” is MUCH more than just a sluggish and down tuned bassline, Black Tongue has inventively merged all the best traits of several bands with their own unique flavor. The extremely slow breakdowns of Overthrower, the vocal ferocity of King Conquer, the slamming grooves of Immoralist, the soul crushing heaviness of Subtract and the evil atmosphere of Observer converge to create something so vile and dark that the world isn’t ready for this level of punishment yet. In case you need some more convincing, Black Tongue features members from the highly praised Technical Deathcore band Infant Annihilator (if you never heard of this band you are missing out!), that should give you some idea about the quality this EP possesses. I consider ”Falsifier” to be the spiritual successor of the Demolisher EP ”World of Hatred” (the album that got me into this style of music), surpassing it on all grounds. With such an earth shattering debut as ”Falsifier’‘, the year might as well be over for me because it’s not going to get any better than this any time soon, it has Album of the Year potential written all over it. Black Tongue recently got signed to We Are Triumphant Records (which is quickly underway to becoming my favorite label company) so don’t expect this release to be the band’s last effort. Hopefully Black Tongue will be treating us to hate-drenched Metal for many more years to come.